Rakkuman Dashu: Future's Path!
by Leafy-san
Summary: Prepare to once again be immersed in a world of endless water... and a tale of endless trouble! The future is now! Chapter two is up xD
1. Home is where the heart is

The piercing sound of an alarm clock echoed through the enclosed medium-sized space, its catchy melody doing little to soothe the slumbering figure that took it upon herself to set the darn thing; with a full plate of work in mind. Mere seconds passed and the sound transformed from intolerable to unbearable, forcing her to act against her will and to dig through the thick blanket that right now gave off the perfect temperature for rest... unfortunately, such a moment was a one in a hundred event in her book. Whining helplessly, a hand shot out of the comforter to search for the accursed clock that she placed right beside her sanctuary.

"Five more minutes..." A soft, tired voice made itself known from under the the blanket as her fingers came to feel the hard outer-casing of her useful yet very annoying machine. Not surprisingly, her sleep-muddled conscious was tempted to just push it off the drawer... but the small thought in the back of her head saying that if it was still ringing when it hit the floor, then she would have to force herself out of the bed just to close it, got the better of her.

After promptly searching for the 'kill' button and finally closing the alarm, her hand fell lazily on the drawer, and she let herself have a few more rested breaths before getting up. At least the alarm reminded her that she set it a good ten minutes before she needed to start the day. As thoughts of recent stature and what would happen today registered in her mind, she let out a soft sigh, clutching the stuffed monkey she was holding on to a little tighter. She missed Data.

"You're always there for him... even now." She spoke wistfully, staring at the stuffed toy that had a striking resemblance to her best friend's guardian. She always did feel a tinge of jealousy when it came to those two. No matter how close she tried to be with him; how much she tried to help him, Data was always there no matter what... appearing and meeting her childhood friend in places she had no idea the harmless looking monkey could even survive on. What's worse was that he never even scolds it for being in such a dangerous place! Not to mention that he's scolded 'her' a few times for even trying to be more of a help than she... "Oh boy, there I go again..."

Combing her messy blonde hair with her fingers, she let out another bothered sigh. As the weeks flew endlessly by with almost no sign of progress, she's been finding herself more and more disturbed just by the mere mention of his name. It actually hurt that she hasn't been able to create a rocket powerful enough to reach the depths of space and finally pick him up from that... that prison. Each passing day added another coat of guilt and impatience, and honestly, she didn't think she could handle another month without him. 'Darnit, Megaman... if it's the last thing I do I'm getting you home!'

Though she couldn't help but dread about her very dramatic promise not happening anytime soon...

"Roll?" Came the aging voice that always seemed to brighten her mood from just outside the metal door--and there couldn't have been a better time... she was feeling the humid air of pent-up tension lifting already. "Are you awake dear?"

"Just about..." Roll let in a deep whiff, taking in the relaxing scent of her bed one more time before permanently waking herself up. Still lying on her stomach, she streched her drowsy legs as far as it could go, feeling the relief overwhelm her body as she finally felt ready to give her body orders... it was odd though, she was usually ready before Gramps even had the distant thought of waking up. "is anything wrong?"

"Oh, no, of course not... I'm just here to tell you that we'll be reaching the Sulphur-Bottom in roughly ten minutes," The calm, slightly high-pitched voice replied, and Roll's eyes widened. "I'll just be watching some television if you need me... the reception out here in the middle of nowhere is very convenient; even the Kattelox news network is showing."

"All right Gramps, thanks." A wide smile had crept up her reddish lips at the aforementioned Sulphur-Bottom; she almost forgot about that! Mister Bleucher was supposed to give them some supplies and a few powerful pieces of equipment, going on and on about how it was the least he could do... of course, with or without the really long speech to the press about how he was helping them, they still appreciated what Vener was going to do for them. In fact she didn't mind much of it at all, just as long as it brought him back to her... oh, and to Gramps too, yeah. "Be out in ten."

She thoughtfully listened to the light, dragging footsteps that followed, waiting for the sound to disappear completely before propping herself up with one arm and softly coaxing her other limbs to do the same. Surprisingly, most of her drowsiness had already worn off--probably because there was actually a chance of Megaman and Data being back in Terra before next month. Removing the silk hat that came with her pink pajamas, Roll sat in an upright position and let out a relieved morning yawn before putting on the pair of fuzzy slippers that she had neatly placed on the left side of her bed the night before. It was going to be a good day, she could feel it.

Just then, she heard a small orchestra singing from inside her desk drawer. Before Roll even recognized it as the sound of her new ring-tone, she already knew who was on the other line. 'Maybe I spoke a little too soon...'

o-----

"Hello? Is this Roll?" On what looked to be a rural patch of green and brown that seemed to stretch for miles on all sides, a decent establishment of copper and steel occupied the middle ground, ruining any first impressions because of the large, cylindrical rocket in the middle of the man-made base. From afar it would look as though the land itself moved peacefully with guile, little yellow dots darting to and fro... but up close it was anything 'but' peaceful. Chaotic was probably a better term. "It's Tron--what kind of supplies did you get? What? What do you mean early? Megaman's rotting up there and all you can... huh? On your 'pajamas'? It's eight forty, pull yourself together!"

"Uhm, miss Tron?" A tiny voice interrupted her scolding, pairing the sudden sound with an equally annoying tug on her pink skirt. "Can I uh... tell you something?"

"'Yes' it's almost nine, and you told me that I'd at least have something to make an outlet for by eight! And I'm sure you know how long it takes to--"

"Miss Tron!"

The young girl responded threateningly, leaning down and bringing her head to an equal level with the oblivious looking Servbot. She did it so fast and without warning that the small yellow robot let out a small 'eep' as piercing green eyes narrowed on wide black ones. "What did I tell you about bothering me while I'm on the phone sixteen?"

"B-but miss Tron... it's uhm, important..."

The female pirate looked thoughtful for a moment, before rolling her eyes in defeat and with a feminine grumble, unenthusiastically put the skull phone beside her right ear. "Listen, I'll call you back."

Standing tall once again and dropping the phone back to its original postion on top of the charger, Tron placed both of her hands on her hips and let out a deep sigh. She'd never been this lenient with... well, just about anyone until recently... but she knew that it was bound to happen, especially when you lived with forty little robots twenty-four seven and they all had their own distinct personalities--the perfect example being number sixteen with his instinctive uh's and uhm's... she guessed it also had something to do with everything else that's been happening lately; Sera, Elysium, Forbidden Island... leading her back to her previous thoughts and questions on how she managed to memorize all forty of her little trouble-makers, sometimes even being able to correctly name them without so much as a clue. And considering the fact that they all looked and sounded the same well... it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was a difficult feat to accomplish. But she couldn't really enjoy the encouraging praises of having mastered such a skill because frankly, there was none... whatever. All this soulful thinking wasn't helping her at all. Life's little mysteries and astonishments were just so... so useless, sometimes. "All right, this better be important."

The Servbot let out a little smile before proceeding, a simple gesture that always did wonders to soften his creator up. "Okay uhm, remember last night, when you told me and twelve; 'I want the bathroom light fixed two hours ago'?"

"Yeah..." Actually, she recalled it a bit more effortlessly than she was expecting to... like she had told them only an hour or so ago. Now she was certain something was wrong. "why?"

Number sixteen's eyes suddenly started to fog up and moisten, to Tron's genuine surprise. "We couldn't do as you asked... two hours ago passed by so quickly and..."

Tron gestured for the Servbot to stop talking before rubbing the tender skin in between her eyes and shaking her head in what looked to be disappointed silence. A huge frown was now making its way up number sixteen's blocky face when all of a sudden, she squatted in front of him and let out an understanding smile that surprised them both. "Sixteen... is that all you're worried about? I was only telling you two to finish it quickly, I didn't actually 'mean' two hours ago--it was just a figure of speech."

"Really? Uh... it was?"

'Leave it to a Servbot to take things literally.' Tron thought to herself, feeling a little guilty that she let them sweat over something as trivial as the bathroom light. There were things so much more important right now... like getting Megaman back. As if on cue to her own thoughts of the heroic blue boy in shining armor, flashes of his so-called 'best friend' ran through her mind as well. She was never really too fond of the sunflower-haired mechanic; Tron had to admit though, they had plenty of things in common... and that was probably what irked her the most. "Yep. It's impossible to do it unless you turned the clock back."

"Oh, yeah... uhm, about that..." Number sixteen let out a sheepish, fearful laugh as the young girl began to question the other Servbot's unique tendency... "number twelve actually 'did' turn the clock two hours."

"What? Then that means it's already ten and Roll hasn't--wait... twelve did it?" Tron interrupted herself, and sixteen nodded a yes. Her mind then played out all of the Servbots' personality problems from one to twelve, and when she finally 'did' recall number twelve's defficiency... 'Uh-oh.'

The Servbot in front of her now fought the urge to be confused as her eyes darted over to the blue-print table, which had three mugs of coffee; all finished to the last drop. And if she wasn't mistaken, twelve was known to be a little lacking when it came to letters and numbers... no, that was probably a lie. Twelve was 'very' lacking--dyslexic, even. There also wasn't much left to do with a clock if you didn't turn it backwards...

"Let me guess... he didn't turn the clock two hours 'backwards', did he?"

"Uhm... no... he didn't."

"I see." Tron tried to remember what time she slept and woke up... she hit the hay at about three in the morning, and she could recall telling sixteen and twelve to fix the lights right before she went to bed. She woke up at six. Ending up with only her pinky positioned straight in a hand full of clenched fingers, the pirate girl felt a wave of stress overcome her tired, slim body at the grim realization that her full night's sleep couldn't even be called a cat nap. "If anyone needs me I'll be counting sheep for the next two hours... oh, and sixteen?"

"Yes, miss Tron?"

Sarcastic indifference transformed into pure, acidic venom in an instant as she once again brought her face down as close and as imposing as it could go, her nose poking the spot where the Servbot's would've been if ever she'd made one. "If I 'ever', catch you or twelve in my room after dark again I am gonna have you both neutered! Got that?"

"Uhm... o-okay..." The Servbot looked on, looking a little more confused and surprised than afraid. "but what does new... nuuu..."

"Oh, nevermind! Just get outta here, scoot!" Number sixteen yelped in surprise before hurriedly running out of the planning room, leaving Tron to brood about her lack of sleep. Now she was going to have to return her clock back to its original time, completely deny having called Roll in case she asked, and put a 'do not disturb... or else' sign in front of her bedroom door... hm. Maybe she should rethink the deny thing. One of the Servbots could have played a prank call on her... yeah. That sounded believable. In any case, she couldn't go back to bed now, not after those three mugs of coffee. How on Terra did she get hooked up on the stuff anyway? She was turning sixteen for goodness' sake... besides, she was 'way' too pretty to be working herself to death--

"Miss Trooon?" Came that same, tiny voice that could've only come from a Servbot's mouth, once again interrupting her much needed thinking time. But the boiling anger was short-lived; it felt as though her sleepless nights have finally taken its toll and decided to cut off some of her girlish energy. The call came from the kitchen downstairs--she was just glad that they weren't anywhere near her at the time. "Do you know where all the potaaatoooes went?"

Dead give-away... without a doubt, the dreaded call came from number twenty. A few days after Megaman's one way trip to Elysium, the once shy, soft-spoken Servbot found himself treading on the kitchen, a little curious on what exactly was in the curry they were eating all the time. Upon inspection of the ingredients, he found a little brown spud and began to gnaw on it... thus, the potato maniac was born. And ever since then they haven't had a decent curry meal, not 'one', because they were always lacking when it came to potatoes; it was obviously no surprise why... though things have otherwise returned to normal when Tron finally thought of a solution, allowing him a maximum of only three raw potatoes a day. But even with the dire consequences of disobeying direct orders, it never stopped the spud hungry Servbot from thoroughly looking for the well-hidden potato sack, and helplessly ruining the Bonne's already meager budget plan for the month. "No twenty, I am 'not' telling you where the potatoes are!"

"But miss Tron... I promise I'll only get as much as you told me... pleaaase?"

"You're a pretty good liar, you know that?" Tron had to raise her voice slightly so the Servbot downstairs could hear every single word she said. It replied with a quick, 'tsk' sound, like he was actually planning otherwise, and it slapped a proud smirk on her face. She could read every one of them like a book. Well, almost everyone... number one's robotic mind has always been hard to measure, and to think he was the first she'd ever made. "No need to whine, you'll be getting one potato for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. All right?"

"Awww... yes miss Tron." The voice was practically covered by a blanket of sulk, and the tired pirate was finally left alone for the time being.

"Ah, peace and quiet... where've you been all my life." Tron sighed in relief, trying to remember the last lines of thought that was going through her head before twenty two interrupted. But the loss of precious energy was starting to get to her, and all she recalled was that she was supposed to turn the clock back two hours. "Hm... counting sheep actually isn't a bad idea..."

But whether she was counting sheep, punishing the Servbots or yelling at Teasel and his partner in crime, number twenty eight, for another stupid get-rich-quick scheme, one thing was certain... Megaman was going home. Even if she had to work on this twenty four seven.

o-----

"Ha... ha-choo!"

Meanwhile, in the silent, bottomless depths of outer-space, a certain blue boy had just about adjusted himself to life in the floating piece of perfection. Everything about the place was at a full constant, continuous bursts of the same... and he was actually relieved. He felt as though nothing could harm him in this vast dome of his past life, yet he'd never been in a more lonelier place. It was like that dig a year and a half ago, when he was stuck inside a huge tower for three days... but he couldn't say that he was truly alone back then. Roll was always right beside him, even if it was only her voice. When she updated him on the time and said that it was nightfall, he would take a rest and they'd talk for hours. He still remembered her worried voice telling him that she would cook up something extra special for him when he got out. And she pleasantly outdid herself; even now, it was still the most delicious three slices of apple pie he had ever eaten. But what he spent three days in couldn't compare to 'this'... three months was already pushing him way over the limit. Oh well... he had some company in the physical form, at least.

"Trigger, are you all right?" A girl with long green hair (he wasn't even sure if it 'was' hair) tied in an unusual manner spoke from beside him, casting a suspicious glance on the armored boy. They were both walking down what looked to be an endlessly long hall-way. "It isn't normal to be sneezing this much."

"I have no idea Sera..." He replied, rubbing his nose yet finding nothing wrong. He'd been sneezing ever since he defeated her in the huge battle that almost destroyed Elysium's vast library--he was also surprised that they actually turned out to be very good friends. At first he had trouble getting used to Sera being in Yuna's body, what with him acquiring part of his old life's memories, but pretty soon he was calling the blonde human body that the latter had taken control of Yuna, without so much as a second thought. It was rather uncanny though, how the grown woman looked so much like Roll. He had never gotten around to asking her what exactly she was doing with the human body in the first place, but he had a feeling that she was indeed his best friend's mother. But the thing that really bothered him was that when Yuna finally did leave the body, would Roll's mother still be there? He was almost afraid to ask. "could be an allergy or something..."

"The living conditions in Elysium is perfect, carbon or ancient alike, so that couldn't be possible..." Sera said indignantly, yet looking a little less convinced than she would allow herself to look a few months before. After their last battle, her entire outlook on the Master System and Elysium had changed, and she was entertaining a thought that her old self would have deemed preposterous. "but there could be a chance, though very slim. How are you feeling?"

"Drained," Megaman said quickly, as if he was expecting Sera to ask the question before the conversation even started... but he was planning to tell her that anyway, whether she asked or not. His old purifier self used to get into a lot of arguments with her--usually resulting in both him and the Master getting scolded at, but whenever he had a problem, he could always count on Sera to have a solution. "It's like everyday I feel more and more tired... does it sound familiar to you?"

"Unfortunately... no." Sera shook her head, unable to find anything even remotely similar to Trigger's explanation in her memory banks. It was times like these when she wished Geetz was still alive... his obsession with Terra and its problems was very useful during her stay in the carbon-filled planet. She didn't hold it against Megaman though. His death was her own ignorance, and she paid for it with her guilt. "The Master System is a completely harm-free environment... no viruses, no sicknesses, no allergies; nor do I have records of anything that involves continuous energy draining... I apologize for not being helpful Trigger, I'm not used to problems of these kinds."

"Oh, that's all right." Trigger lifted up an armored hand and placed it behind his head, smiling sheepishly. But it was that gesture that just seemed to make Sera feel a little worse. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid... I'm sure it's nothing."

Sera let out a deep breath, her face returning to its emotion-less state. After a moment of silence the aura of awareness returned to her eyes, except now it held a look of worry. "No... you are correct. I feel your energy slowly draining. Perhaps we should ask Yuna, it's likely that she acquired a great deal of knowledge about the carbons during her neutrality a long time ago."

"Hmmm... maybe." Actually, he didn't really know. He had most of his memories back when he was a purifier, sure, but most of the events were still very hazy. All he knew was that he fought Sera then too. But right now he was a little too preoccupied on the matter at hand. Was he coming down with something? He hoped that it wasn't anything too serious. He wanted to do so many things when he returned to Terra... and he wanted to spend most of it with Roll. His communicator stopped working nearly two months ago, and it was driving him crazy... he truly wanted--no, 'needed' to get back to Terra. Heck, it's gotten to the point where he was even starting to miss fighting the Bonnes. "I just hope I don't end up in the medical room for the rest of my stay here... that place smells funny."

"Mistress Sera? Trigger?" A tall, green haired young man with long pointy ears called to them from a little ways down the hall they were passing through. His skin had the same brown tone as Sera, and his eyes glew with the same unusual red color that both Sera and Sera's former body had. With his vague memories serving him clues, Trigger guessed that the large red orb on his forehead signified that he was a guardian of the Master System's mother androids, which would be Yuna and Sera. But were they androids really...? He never gave it much thought. His only real theory was that if he didn't know any better, then he'd most likely say that they were one hundred percent human. "Mistress Yuna would like to see you both in the pod area--it's important."

"Pod area?" Trigger returned his gaze to Sera, who had a featherlight smile on her face. He thought he had this whole place covered. He spent the most of his time exploring every nook and cranny Elysium had to offer, and not once did he see or hear the words 'pod area' from Yuna... and what exactly was a pod anyway? "Where's that?"

"She's finished." Sera said simply, crossing her arms in what looked like a poise of relief, odd as that seemed. "You'll see soon enough; just follow Gatz. I still have an urgent chore that needs to be done, so I'll meet up with you two in a while... that is, if you're still here."

Sera winked, something that even his past life wasn't used to; which resulted in Trigger's question about what exactly she meant dying half-way through his throat. Knowing that she caught him off-guard, she celebrated the subtle victory with a grin and continued on her way down the hall as Gatz walked in the opposite direction to meet the surprised boy.

"She has changed..." Gatz muttered, though it was more to himself than anything. Megaman's initial shock had worn out by then, and Gatz's hushed remark was all it took to drag Trigger's mind back into his head. "Come, I'll show you where it is."

"Okay." Megaman nodded, and Gatz led him back to the console area, where he had started his conversation with Sera half an hour ago. It took them a while to walk to the aforementioned location, but he didn't really say anything... nor was he thinking about anything in particular either. In fact, the closest thing that had to do with thinking or being thoughtful were his words after another random sneeze chose to engulf his nose with a vengeance. "Bless me. Dumb, cold wannabe..."

"You should have mistress Yuna run a diagnostics check on you before you go." Gatz said, pressing some buttons on the keyboard that was hanging on the far left wall of the room, from where Trigger was standing. Unlike Sera--or what she used to be, Gatz on the other hand was very open-minded. In a way he was a lot like Sera's servitor unit, Geetz. Whenever there was a problem, he would take everything into consideration... it was one of Yuna's best traits, and he was glad that it rubbed off on him. It was just too bad that Geetz had died ignoring his instincts and following orders... but had Gatz been in the same situation, he would've probably done the same.

For the billionth time today Megaman felt the need to ask him about what he meant, but before he was even able to open his mouth and speak a thin bright light enveloped the tall man, and no later than that did his form begin to fade. Too entranced to ask whatever question he was going to ask, he wordlessly watched Gatz slowly dematerialize until there was absolutely no trace left of him anywhere. Comically, it took him a few seconds of staring idly into space to realize that Gatz was actually 'gone'. 'What in the...'

"Trigger?" Gatz's voice nearly made Megaman jump in fright, and the boy let out a tired frown. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." Megaman grumbled. Gatz could have 'told' him that he was going to do that before he even disappeared. But no... they had to leave him in constant suspense paired with blatant confusion. And just for the record, he still had absolutely no idea what was happening... nor did he know why just a small piece of food that tasted like a biscuit could keep him sustained in Elysium for two whole days. He didn't know a lot of things... but that was only because they never told him anything about it. Darnit, he couldn't even remember if he 'asked'. Quickly shaking his head, Megaman started to massage his temples with his left hand. He was starting to feel dizzy... light-headed. Maybe this little draining problem was a lot more serious than he thought.

"Good. I need you to go to the keyboard I was using earlier, and input the following code..."

Megaman strained to use the last of his brain power and did as he was told, standing right across the eerie looking digital board that held a vast collection of letters and numbers; ninety percent of which he couldn't recognize... or maybe he was just feeling a little too limited to even bother trying to make the keys out. He could have sworn that he had seen these before though... uh-oh, there goes his head again. Must. Stop. Thinking! "Okay, so what's the code?"

"Before we begin Trigger, it's important that you follow my commands and press the corresponding buttons 'exactly'. The slightest mistake can set the coordinates to a piece of the Master System long gone, and it could end up transporting you to a very untimely demise. Am I clear?" Gatz warned, and Megaman nearly tripped over himself as his hands undertook a very abrupt halt before managing to test one of the keys out. True, he didn't have his undivided attention towards the familiar voice that seemed to make itself known out of nothing... but it was loud enough that the words, 'slightest mistake' was able to delay his careless action and 'demise' stopped him completely. He may not have been all that diverse when it came to a full vocabulary, but he knew full well what demise meant.

"Yep. Could have told me that sooner too..." He whispered, feeling slightly annoyed and even a little surreal as the gravity of what he could have done began to sink on his shoulders. He didn't want to go in a mass explosion of flesh and bone--or was that an implosion? And why the heck was he giving it some thought in the first place? There was 'no' way he was dying like that, no sir. "I'll be careful."

"All right... the code is eight, one, one, eight, three, two, six, one, five."

Megaman finished pressing the last key, deciding to follow Gatz's command as soon as he heard the number being spoken. It's not that he was showing off; he just didn't trust himself to be able to memorize a code that long after hearing it only once. Besides, he didn't think that Gatz would make a mistake reading the code out to him. But it still managed to leave him a little shaken. He never thought it possible to have absolute control in whether he lived or died like that. It may have taken him only a little bit of effort to input the code, but he never wanted to do anything like that again. "There, now what--"

Megaman was cut off by a sudden wave of nausea, and as he caught sight of his armored hands; he was shocked to see both completely transparent. So far, this was the second time in his life he felt like this... he could feel himself tense up as an unexplainable emotion began to flow through his system. He was either really excited, or down-right frightened. Why couldn't there just be a basement elevator, like everywhere else? Teleporters freaked him out. One of the reaverbots that he tested his latest accessory pack on disintegrated exactly like this... it also bothered him that he was thinking so much more rigorously than he used to. Now, for some odd reason he could relate to all of his past experiences like some kind of benchmark program. In a way everything felt different... yet at the same time it felt so natural to him. Perhaps he really was like this, but a painful blow to the head by one of Sera's incredible yet ridiculously horrifying attacks made him forget.

Shrugging off his thoughts for another day, he shut his eyes in anticipation and waited. And waited... and waited. After several seconds of absolutely nothing--for the life of him he didn't even know what he was waiting for, fate chose this very unstable time to poke him on the nose. And fate, as we know it, could be very literal sometimes.

"BUGS!" Megaman jumped back, instinctively flailing his hands around his head in a valiant effort to remove whatever eight legged creeper his over-active imagination had placed on his face.

"Eeep!" The supposed bug let out a womanly squeal, and Trigger stopped whatever he was doing, let out a small sigh, and opened his eyes to see Gatz standing right in front of him; a concerned look on his face. From behind the ever-loyal guardian he could see the head of a young woman with blonde hair slowly peek out of Gatz's side, and he immediately recognized who it was. From there he quickly took in a more detailed view of his surroundings--for one thing, it didn't look like the console area anymore... the walls, the cieling and the floor were all made of glass wires transporting what looked to be a glowing green fluid of some sort, stretching vertically and much farther than his squinted eyes were able to reach. Reluctantly crashing back to reality and to the two confused people in front of him, Megaman sighed again.

"Sorry Yuna..."

"Geez, I didn't know your nose was 'that' sensitive," The woman known as Yuna replied, stepping out completely from behind Gatz and placing a hand on her shapely hip. A few seconds before, Trigger had appeared in front of them standing dead still with both eyes shut tight. How was she supposed to know a small touch on the nose would scare the heck out of him? She made a mental note never to do anything like that again in the similar scenarios to come (though she doubted there'd be any more events similar to this one happening anytime soon), because his reaction scared the high heavens out of 'her' as well. And now that she thought about it, being called a bug was ridiculous, not to mention quite mean. "For a second there I thought you were gonna shoot me or something."

"Ah... eheheh..." Megaman let out an uncomfortable laugh, hoping that this very embarrassing moment wouldn't return to haunt him in the future... Roll was terrified of bugs and; to be shamefully honest, he was too. But he would never tell her that, because of a half-hearted promise to his best friend and at the same time a secret vow to himself, that he would protect her from every single one of those nasty little critters a year or so back... there were many, many occurences in which he tried to eject his fear of the insect family--the reasons being Roll's own phobia and that it 'really' didn't feel right. It was mainly because he knew for a fact that he could brave and even handle huge, flying battleships, bi-polar Purifiers, death lasers the size of a chunk of Terra, aging mercenaries with bad backs and an obscenely large frog that smelled like a used public toilet but throw one cockroach at him and...

"Hey Trigger, you still with us?" Yuna snapped her fingers casually in front of his face, and fortunately for the both of them he reacted in a less... wierd, way. Just a startled look. Actually it was kind of cute... and this was usually the time when she would mockingly scold herself because it wasn't proper of a mother android. But living in the body of a home-grown carbon for so long, she could feel her natural instinct adapting with the human's fragile emotions. Then again, she was never truly deprived of the feelings that Terra's inhabitants were infamous for... just restricted. As far as she knew, her genetic make-up was as close to humans as an organic mother unit could possibly get. The only real difference she and Sera had with the humans was that they didn't age... and technically, neither did the boy in front of her. But his immunity to death was short-lived. The Trigger she had known long ago was always curious to see what his body was like in its full potential, boldly removing the system that refused the aging process; though he aged in a turtle's pace. She remembered secretly looking up to him after that, because the aging process was so meticulously complicated and aggresive in nature that it could not be stopped once it had begun--it was the reason she enjoyed her carbon body so much... this was the only way that she could even remotely relate to his feelings.

Observing Megaman's boyish face, Yuna couldn't help but let out a sigh of envy. She never really could muster up the courage to remove the system that stopped growth in her original body, yet what she held now was no exception to the carbons' natural way of life. It was also saddening to see that Trigger was aging just as quickly as a regular human being, and that he wouldn't be with them in the future...but she wasn't so sure if she even wanted to be in the future either. Maybe when she returned to her original body... maybe things would change. It'd kill her to leave poor Sera alone though.

"Yuna? Hellooo..."

'Oh, shoot...' Now it was her turn to flash a sheepish smile of her own, earning a confused expression from Trigger. Wow, that was awkward. He caught her staring at him--no, that was very awkward. Her brain flying out the window like that right after she got his attention... okay, it was very, very awkward. 'Yuna girl, you'd better cut it out now or this'll turn into an endless cycle of awkward... stuff. "All right then, follow me; Gatz, stay here and wait for Data."

"Yes Mistress." The servitor unit nodded and stepped aside, allowing Megaman and Yuna passage through the rest of the narrow hall. Thus, the two set out on a tediously long journey inside the very confusing maze that was 'pod' area. Even with all of his experience concerning vast, ingeniously hidden areas Trigger didn't dream of such a location inside Elysium; it was like they were treading in a world-sized reaverbot's brain, the blinding fluid that looked so much like the energy of his mega buster lighting the glass tubes and more importantly, their visual ability every few seconds or so in short continuous bursts. Speaking of their sense of sight, was Yuna was having trouble seeing as well? They had already gone deeper inside and the natural light had already disappeared completely... and making things a little more eerie were the numerous intersections they passed again and again and again... it was uncomfortable to say the least. By all means he was forcing himself to be extra careful--the mere thought of getting lost, in here of all places, made him shudder helplessly.

As if to answer his subconscious fears, a feminine hand slipped on the blue armor of his own, and Megaman quickly looked up to see a pair of understanding green eyes staring back at him. A very natural blush crept up on his cheeks and for a split second he could've sworn he saw Yuna's cheeks spill a shade of red too. "Don't worry... Volnutt, was it? I've pretty much memorized the path, so you just hold on to me okay?"

'Volnutt...' It felt good to hear that name again. Truth be told there were only a handful of people that knew; even Roll called him Megaman. It was probably only Gramps in rare occurences and some of those gameshow hosts back in Kattelox that bothered to affiliate him with that name. Not that it offended him or anything; 'Megaman' was albeit a very odd name, but it stuck to him and in time he learned to get used to it. Took him a good month or two though. He remembered his first dig, the first time he donned the blue armor that even when he was very small made him feel different... like he had already worn it before. Gramps made the name up for him when he saved the old digger's life from the tall Reaverbot that guarded his first large refractor. Roll thought it was a little silly, but after spotting for them and experiencing an emotional moment such as that, her heart caught on her throat and she had to agree that the name fit. And as always, Volnutt, having no say in it whatsoever, agreed with a sigh. But it wasn't as bad as it seemed... having Gramps and Roll decide on just about everything worked to his advantage more often than not. "O-okay."

Yuna smiled and tugged him gently, and the two resumed their walk. Two minutes had passed and Yuna didn't look like she was going to strike conversation anytime soon, tempting Megaman to let out what's been on his mind... having completely forgotten about his paranoia concerning the energy sucking problem.

"So... why show this place to me only now?"

"We were only able to acquire the code a few days ago," Yuna stated simply, her concentration focused fully on the confusing number of different paths this relatively new area had to offer. She was able to memorize the way, but even with her photographic memory it could still get a little difficult navigating around here... nothing a dose of time and experience couldn't handle. Though she had to admit, the process was going to be lonely without Trigger around... heck it was lonely enough as it was. Yuna found herself counting the last few minutes of his stay as they neared the end of the tube-like maze. "From then until yesterday I was exploring and I... found something that could help you return to Terra. It can actually bring you home today, if you want..."

"Wha--really? That's great!" Megaman nearly yelled for joy, ecstatic thoughts of reuniting with Roll and the others rejuvenating his tired body. The sooner he got out of this place the better. But his brightened mood darkened just as fast as he came across her frown; immediately the blue boy felt like he did something wrong. Not that he actually thought the whole thing over or anything, it was just that he was 'always' the one at fault when it came to situations like this. "Hey... are you all right? What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing..." The person in question sighed, finally leading them into an exit that, compared to the dull-witted, claustrophobic's nightmare behind them, could at least brag about having some breathing room. As for his observation, she was indeed feeling a little unwell because of the technicalities and side effects using the ancient's beam transporter would unearth on Elysium. Well, that and only Trigger would be able to go to Terra... leaving her all lonely, blah blah blah, and some other womanly complaint like that. But it'd be better for the both of them if she didn't say anything... this was the first time she'd seen the look of pure joy on his face and she didn't want to ruin it. "don't worry about it."

"Oh... okay. If you're sure." He was actually expecting something that would leave him awe struck, like a majestic machine with a built-in light show or something equally unlikely yet interesting at the same time (he was used to seeing things that made him wonder about his intelligence) but in fact, the entire place looked very simple. Just a little pod thing and some--wait... pod? Where'd he get that? Firstly, he had no idea what a pod 'was'--wait. Maybe this was his old life talking. Yeah... some old memories helping him recall. Oh boy, he hoped there were more unlockable vocabulary words in this organic tornado he dared to call a brain... "So how does this work exactly... do I just stand in the middle?"

"Yep, that's the whole thing in a nutshell. And I'm not even going to start with the energy process," Yuna shrugged, having already mentally prepared herself for the problems Elysium would be having after this. Energy surge didn't even graze the tip of the ice berg. "Let's just say I had to plug in a lot of wires to a single outlet to work this thing, meaning this can only be done once... After that Elysium will be completely out of energy for a while, at least until Sera finishes debugging the emergency engine."

Trigger had already positioned himself on the very generic looking teleporter when what Yuna said began to register on his mind. After that it didn't take him much to put two and two together and... "Elysium will be what? But doesn't this entire place run on a reactor? How in the world are you, Gatz and Sera supposed to survive without any kind of energy?"

"How sweet of you to ask, Trigger! Thankfully, the air pressure here doesn't require any kind of energy to enable the oxygen recycling process, which means my sexy little carbon body is free from harm in case you were wondering about that particular detail." Yuna winked and Megaman looked down, his cheeks threatening to glow once again. Among the three of them he was always the most human... now, he 'was' one. Sure he aged like a rabbit on steroids, but it also opened the door to a whole ton of opportunities... like exploiting some of his more embarrassing, human weaknesses for instance. "Just kidding! Hehee, if your sweet-heart could see your face now... she'd probably be glaring daggers at my direction, hm?"

"Wh-what? Errr... I don't--uhm... I don't think Roll would do that... maybe she'd be a little angry but..." Trigger was smoking red now, his voice becoming so small it was tiny. Why did he have to get so nervous and embarrassed at the smallest mention of his confusing love life? It was probably because he was never really able to think straight after the last time he read Roll's diary, which was a day or two before he had to go to Elysium. Of course, he felt very bad about secretly violating her inner-most thoughts, but at the same time relief washed over him when he recalled her latest entry at the time.

"Hahaha, I see... by the way, I've set the magnified coordinates to hit one of the Sulphur-Bottom's empty guest rooms, since it's the only ship in Terra that's visible from here." He didn't notice the huge grin creeping up on Yuna's face as she placed her hand on the screen that kick-started the futuristic piece of machinery. So it 'was' Roll. She always knew that young girl had good taste... this was going to be very interesting. "Oh, and Trigger?"

"Y-yeah?"

"I didn't know Roll was your sweet-heart... thanks for the info." Yuna could barely stop herself from laughing out loud as Trigger's eyes grew wide as saucers in an almost stagnant expression. It looked like he was about to deny the whole thing when a bright yellow light enveloped him; forcing the boy to simply sigh in aggravated stress. Yuna had to bite her lips to keep from laughing like a maniac when Trigger suddenly sneezed, right before he was transported out of Elysium. And to think he saved the world for a living... it was almost like a pardox of some sort. "I swear Volnutt... you are so cute. Argh, why do I have this feeling that I forgot something...?"

"Mistress Yuna? Data's here." Came the all-too-familiar baritone voice from behind her as a strong feeling of dread formed in the pit of her stomach. "Where's Trigger?"

'Oh, so that's what I... man, that stinks something awful.' "Uhm... oops?"

o----------

A/Ns : All right, it's finished! What do you guys think? I was already planning to make more as I already have an entire lifetime's worth of ideas for this one, but I still want to know what the readers (that's you :P) want. Feel like flaming it? Praising it? Go ahead, knock yourselves out :). But at least give me some constructive criticism if ever you find something wrong, okay? I also wouldn't want to continue something if you guys never liked in the first place, so just tell me straight up :P.

So all of that aside for now, on to the chapter two teaser :).

Trigger is being beamed back to Terra after three months in Elysium, but what about Data? And with Roll and Gramps planning on acquiring a few supplies from Von Bleucher that very day, this could turn into a very emotional reunion for all of them... but wait, Von Bleucher has some interesting news to share! Tune in next time for the next chapter of Megaman Legends: Future's Path! Buh-bye :).


	2. Apple on a stick

Darkness... endless darkness. Stretching as far as his eyes could see--but was his eyes even open in the first place? He wouldn't know... his mind alone has been the only functional conscious in his body for as long as he remembered. At least, that's what he thought. He was thinking, wasn't he? That was proof enough for him. Not that anyone cared; or even could care, given the situation. In fact his whole existence in general was obscene and twisted. But he had to admit, this was a first for him... an unexpected first in a very, very long time. Once again focusing on the stagnant situation at hand, his thoughts let out only very few options, and--wait. Was he... was he finally dying? Was this what it felt like? Could it be that his sadistically innocent wish was finally being granted?

'What's happening to me?' The words echoed relentlessly inside his head. But before his mind could linger on the thought any further, the suspended darkness abruptly gave way to light. In an instant, the scorching sting beheld itself upon his instinctively shut eyes, though it did little to nothing at all in terms of comfort. The blinding light was still there, and his whole body quickly felt the same burning sensation his sight was suffering. Had he been a regular human being; an ordinary carbon, then his mind would have given way to panic--but the only reaction that emanated was a doubtful, hopeful thought as his body continued to hurt all over. And the reason was one word... feel. All his life he was never given the gift of physical touch, taste or smell... everything that was anything could only be sensed by his brain. It was hard to put into words; an awkward stimulation of some sort, and at the same time it was the only process of difference in his world of isolation. He didn't even know if what he was feeling now really was his body's senses... his natural instincts seemed to agree. Yet he dared not assume it to be so, since based on personal experience, where there was hope, there was pain. And hope was unfortunately a profoundly fragile thing.

His mind and soul; whether he had them or not didn't matter anymore, was screaming in agony when the light chose this time to literally 'break' into a thousand pieces--producing a display of calming grandoise and taunting beauty that obviously did not go unnoticed. Everything was fading away to darkness again, and inevitably, he was once more beginning to feel a tad bit anxious... though the relief far out-classed his doubt, for he could feel the unnerving pain slowly losing its edge. True, the sensation was more of an undesirable stranger to him than anything else, but it was useful in a way that it gave him the simple pleasure of knowing that he was alive. And to think all of this was so foreign to him, he honestly had no idea where all of this new-found knowledge was coming from... it definitely wasn't from what he'd read in Elysium's books, that was for sure.

Seconds passed and he was greeted by a dead silence... a full minute, still nothing. The pain had all but dulled now, and his heart raced in apprehension. This just couldn't be... what was all that for if there was no reason to why it--what, wait... the darkness, it was... fading.

_Hope..._

_Despair... _

_Charity... _

_Greed... _

_Power..._

_Love._

_This is ROCKMAN DASH, FUTURE'S PATH!_

_Chapter one; 'Reunion' -- "Affection shines in the oddest of moments." _

The Sulphur Bottom... undeniably the only gargantuan ship in existence to have been created for the sole purpose of entering the famed Forbidden Island. Fused with opposing qualities, Von Bleucher had this masterpiece constructed for a noble, yet incredibly vain cause. And although it was unable to finish its mission, landing a few seconds short of handling the dangerous weather conditions that surrounded the mystery island--not to mention the woman that had a hand in stopping the ship--it was a valiant effort that heralded a successful expedition undertaken later on by Megaman nonetheless. In fact after everything that's happened, the Forbidden Island wasn't even that interesting anymore. Just went to show how quickly things could change if given a push on the right direction.

In any case, the entire ordeal was a stressful, costly chain of events, leaving everyone involved mentally exhausted, at the very least.

"All hands on deck! If I don't see another set of coordinates leading to a decent unexlpored ruin in thirty minutes there will be heck to pay!"

Well... almost everyone.

"And ready the supplies for Barrell while you're at it!" Von Bleucher ordered the scrambling audience of staff and volunteers as he sighed in exasparated boredom. Good help was so hard to find these days... there was no doubt about it, things were definitely better when Megaman was searching for the gate keys. At least then he was able to satisfy the restless explorer inside by tracking the talented boy's every move whenever opportunity arose, as well as get some well deserved rest; killing two birds with one stone. Not to mention all the trouble the boy got into with those two girls. Stifling a small chuckle, Von Bleucher let out another sigh... oh how he wished he was young again, then maybe he would have been able to... no. Now wasn't the time to day-dream. The powerful beeping of the built-in intercomm on his desk prophecized a full, busy day ahead... he hoped. "What is it Captain?"

"Uhm, sir, I don't know if you're seeing this, but..." The voice on the communicator hesitated for a moment.

"Well? Speak up man, I have things to prepare for today." Von Bleucher replied, obviously getting impatient, though the conversation had managed to stir up some of his curiosity...

"Sir... there are two large heat signatures in the Sulphur Bottom's radar, and one's heading straight for us."

"What?" The ship's commander-in-chief immediately set his eyes on the decently sized screen a few feet away from his desk, and his eyes widened. There, on the radar, were two unusually large, blinking lights... and one of them 'was' heading straight for them. Almost instantly his mind went on a sort of calculative trance, putting into account all of the information he had absorbed that day and the days passed... why was there something so wrong with this picture? Well, aside from the huge blinking lights, things were... yes, that was it. There was positively no way those heat signatures could be considered harmless by the Sulphur Bottom's main auto defense systems. Ironically, this solved the boredom part... a very exciting near-death experience. "Yes, I see it... but Captain?"

"Ah, y-yes, Mister Von Bleucher?" The Captain was taken aback by the unfazed calm in his voice. He expected the aged digger to be a little more well... concerned.

"WHY DO I NOT HEAR MY MILLION ZENNY ALARM SYSTEM'S SEDUCTIVE VOICE TELLING ME THIS?"

Judging by the noises that came out of the intercomm after the unusual exchange, the Captain assumedly had jumped so high in fright he hit his head. If things weren't so painfully sarcastic already, Von Bleucher would have cracked a smile. "S-sir you, you ordered that the main frame be debugged, so it was disconnected by Professor Janice an hour ago..."

"Ah... ahem... yes, I remember. I did." Well, that certainly clamped his mouth shut. But either way, he didn't know Janice had to disconnect the mainframe in order to debug it... Von Bleucher jotted down a mental note to install another defense system in the defense system; if they managed to live through this. Probably the next thing the Captain was going to say was that the engines were currently being upgraded, and--wait, he 'did' order that. "Is there any chance we can evade it?"

"I'm... I'm afraid not sir. You ordered the engines to be upgraded this morning and--"

"Yes, yes I know... it can only stay afloat." Von Bleucher grumbled thoughtfully, shaking his head. He decided to take another look at his options and found only one solution left; to shoot whatever it was down. But having designed the radar system himself, he knew very well that wasn't going to happen. The vertical angle upon which the heat was descending upon them proved to be impossible to shoot down. And from what the radar was telling him, it was only heat! How on Terra do you shoot down heat, anyway? An evasive maneuver was probably the only choice that would've given them even the slightest chance to miss it... argh, damn him and his perfectionist ways! Silently, he prayed that this very odd event wouldn't yield any casualties--specifically his, and if it indeed didn't, he prayed that the damage to the Sulphur Bottom would only be minimal. "Well then, please calmly infrom everyone in the loud speakers Captain and... do brace yourself."

o-----

"Oh my gosh, Gramps, look!" A frantic Roll let an equally frantic hand off the steering wheel and pointed towards the cockpit's front view window; showing what looked to be Von Bleucher's ship on a collision course with a large golden beam that was falling from the sky... "On top of the Sulphur Bottom!"

The eyebrows above the robotic eyes of the aged digger furrowed slightly, and his red cybernetic pupils widened in surprise. What was Von Bleucher doing??? If he spent so much money on the thing, why hadn't he tried to move the ship out of the way? That... that cylindrical beam of light, whatever it was, was certainly slow enough. His hands shook in anxious concern as he tried helplessly to dig through his pockets in search of his personal communicator. Annoying or no, he was Barrell's best friend--he wouldn't wish any harm upon Von Bleucher if his life depended on it. "Roll, try to get Von Bleucher on your phone--It's possible that old crock hasn't seen it!"

"Y-yes Gramps!" But they both knew it was already too late. Before Roll even had a chance to snatch her cell phone from behind the wheel, the shooting star crashed onto the Sulphur Bottom in an artistic splash of incredibly bright light, forcing the two to cover their eyes from the sight stinging collision. For what seemed like an eternity, Roll and Barrell remained dead still, eyes closed, either of them expecting the worst. Roll saw her chances of getting Megaman back home slipping farther and farther from her reach... whilst her grandfather had assumed his life-long friend was eradicated from the face of Terra. For the longest time, neither wanted to open their eyes.

"...Roll?"

"...Yes, Gramps?"

"I'm... scared to death here. Would you mind, checking..."

"Gramps?"

"Yes...?"

"Could I do that later? I think I... I think I might need to change uhm... first since... can I just not explain that?"

"Why would you need--oh. Oh dear."

o-----

"Well, that was... different." A pale, wide-eyed Von Bleucher whispered, the hair on the back of his head standing as high as it could go. The only thing he could remember was a staggering vibration and a piercing light attacking his poor, defense-less eyes... surprisingly yet, after all that, everything still looked to be in order; at least where he was standing. The only real thing he was sure of now was that whatever fate had decided to pull, he was still alive. "C-Captain. Status report."

"Sir," The voice responded immediately; though it also held an extent of shock bewilderment. Bleucher could tell that he was just as confused as he was. "The data screen says that e-everything is... functioning at optimal proficiency. Also, the Sulphur Bottom's debugging is almost finished, but the engines still need some time to be upgraded."

"Errr. Good." The eccentric man couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. It looked like his prayer was answered two-fold. In fact it was almost as if nothing had happened. Now that he thought about it, it 'was' possible that nothing happened. Maybe he was just imagining things? Better safe than sorry, in any case. "Captain... everyone saw that, right?"

"I, believe so sir." Was the intercomm's reply. "I'm willing to bet that if anything else happened besides the bright light sir, then people would be panicking."

"Hm. All right then. Just be sure to tell me when the debugging is fin--"

_**ALERT, ALERT, ALERT! UNIDENTIFIED HEAT SIGNATURES APPROACHING AT UNCOMFORTABLE SPEEDS, PLEASE REFER TO MAIN DATA FRAME FOR DEFENSIVE OPTIONS. ALERT, ALERT, ALERT!!! **_

"...Uh, it's finished sir--"

"I KNOW Captain... I know." Von Bleucher absent-mindedly brought a gloved hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. Oh boy, what a day. Perhaps he was getting a little too old for this after all. But just as he began his silent, self-opposing rant concerning young guns always trying to take down the veterans, his personal communicator began ringing; a classical musical score that also ironically reminded him of how old he was. Yet frankly, he didn't really care much for age when it came to music. Classic was priceless, and that was a term every digger should hold dear. "Yes, this is Von Bleucher... ah, speak of ye ol' devil."

The loud unintelligible noises that very soon made itself known from the phone would have probably been heard a mile away.

"Ahem... yes, yes Barrell, I assure you I'm fine, as well as everyone else for that matter..." He had to hold the communicator a little farther away from his ear because of the loud frantic scolding his old friend was right now throwing at him. Once again Vener weighed down his options... by the end of it he didn't know whether to bask in the nostalgia Barrell's scoldings and lectures brought about, or to get irritated. To be honest with himself, all his life he'd chosen the latter. Perhaps now he could actually enjoy the old Professor's ramblings... or tolerate it, at least. It was a good start, darn it. "Yes, I see you. I've already prepared the supplies your grand-daughter needs. Well, everything seems to be working fine from where I'm standing. It's too early to determine that Barrell, I haven't even ordered an investigation yet... listen, we'll talk more about the matter when you land, all right? See you."

With a sigh that finalized his work for the moment, Von Bleucher closed his communicator, placed it casually on his desk, and let the day's events go through his mind once more. The Captain said there were two heat signatures... what of the other one? Seemed like he had his work cut out for him.

Meanwhile...

"Gah!" A disoriented Trigger opened his eyes in absolute shock, fortunately regaining enough composure to stop himself from tripping and falling head-first into one of Vener's prickly plants... wait, Vener's plants?! Taking a quick, ecstatic glance upon his new surroundings, the boy's mouth spawned a grin so wide that his jaw could have fallen off. He couldn't believe it--after three, long months... it had finally happened! If Trigger wasn't so paralyzed with happiness he would've tried to pinch himself. He was back... he was back! He was back! He was... naked??? "W-what... wha... uh-oh."

Fifteen minutes later...

"Roll? Are you all right?"

"H-huh?" The girl in question snapped out of her day-dream, returning to reality seconds later to find that she had been staring at her tea for the past three minutes or so. Something was wrong... she remembered being very excited to be here; what with the supplies and all, but after that beam, something felt... wierd. She couldn't quite place what she was feeling exactly, but it felt incredibly familiar. And to make matters a little more confusing--after having brought what was left of her attention back once again to Von Bleucher and her grand-father who had cut the conversation short to attend to her silence, Roll suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Oh, yes, I'm fine... I just... can I walk around for a little while?"

"Why, of course you can." Von Bleucher smiled sympathetically. It was true that Roll was pushing herself past her limits to help bring Megaman home. "I'll have the supplies loaded onto the Flutter as soon as possible."

"Thank you very much, mister Von Bleucher." Roll allowed herself a tired smile, having ignored the concerned look her grandfather was giving her. But if Barrell had felt the need to say anything at all to her, he didn't do so. Instead he simply watched her make her way to the visitor's area of the Sulphur Bottom, the fatherly look never leaving his face.

Vener shifted to a more comfortable position on his chair, and gave his old friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Ah, don't worry Barrell. I'm sure she's just tired."

Barrell's frown deepened. "All the more reason to be worried, Vener..."

o-----

A stumped, irritated Volnutt had spent the last ten minutes glaring at the room's built-in camera, having already covered himself from the sheets of the bed, the likes of which he was also sitting on as he thought his predicament over. The first thing he'd have to do was look for the rest of his armor--he found his helmet under the bed--and then, find a way to get a hold of the room's stupid record tape. It would've been much easier if the sheets could actually be removed from the cushion, that way maybe he wouldn't have to use his helmet to cover... well... that. And no, he hadn't lost enough of his dignity to actually try and walk around this human infested ship with only a piece of metal to protect his fragile ego. Oh yeah, and he hated that camera. Hated it.

In fact he was too busy wishing infinite death to the thing that he hadn't noticed the soft, trudging steps of a young girl getting closer and closer...

"...What's wrong with me?" Roll asked herself as she willed her body to walk on, feeling very much like she was dragging an anchor around with her. Maybe... maybe she just plain missed Megaman too much. It was like everywhere she looked, there was a flashback of her old friend doing something funny, or silly... at first, it felt nice to remember. But now it just hurt. 'Come on... get a grip.' "Darn it, I need to fix something."

And, as if her wish was answered then and there, a small beeping sound made itself known from the door beside her.

"Hm?" Roll let her troubles hang in suspended animation for a second, reading the room's console beside the door. It looked like there was a small error concerning the bed sheets... whatever, she might as well have a look. Maybe there was something for her to patch up in there. Of course being the polite girl that she was, Roll knocked twice on the metal door first. There was no reply, though she could've sworn she heard some sort of odd, rustling sounds from inside. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Argh, what now..." Trigger whispered in fearful annoyance, a little too pre-occupied in placing himself under the thick blanket of the guest bed to recognize who the voice actually belonged to. In an effort to rouse as little suspicion as possible, Trigger tried his best to lay on the flat of his back, arms on his sides, and the helmet well... it was easy enough to hide elsewhere. 'I wonder who that could be...'

The metal door hissed open, and Roll stepped inside, immediately beginning her search for the door's main console so she could find out the exact cause of the problem. She eventually did, and indeed, it was the bed sheets causing the error. But when she looked, there wasn't really anything wrong, aside from a slight bulge... it was possibly just a computer malfunction. Happily deciding to get a more detailed look with the screwdriver conveniently placed in her side pocket, Roll opened the small circuit box beneath the keypad of the console and began tinkering on it as the bed quietly snuck in a quick breath or two. "Okay... all those parts belong there and... hmmm... then what's wrong?"

Once again, Trigger was too busy trying to hold his breath to recognize the voice.

Roll looked back at the bed, a thoughtful expression on her face. Perhaps sitting on it would show the problem...? Besides, that bulge was a little unusual.

'What's she doing?' Megaman thought to himself as the orange haired mechanic began walking towards his hiding place... and just then his dense mind actually began letting in some useful information--suddenly things couldn't be clearer. Not that it was a good thing, mind you. 'Please don't lie down on me pleaaase...'

Without a second thought, Roll stopped beside the bed, placed both her hands on her thighs, and with little effort, sat and placed all of her weight on a particularly sensitive spot...

'Huh--**OH DEAR SWEET APPLE ON A STICK!**'

Realistically enough it took the human bed less than half a second to begin squirming, and it took about the same amount of time for Roll to jump a few feet away in a yelp of complete surprise. Trigger had also managed to clumsily reveal his upper body in the process, sitting up and almost ripping the bed sheets apart as the frightened girl gawked in wonder.

And for the first time in three months, wide green eyes happened upon rattled lime ones.

o-----

"What's wrong, Barrell?" Von Bleucher asked plainly, wondering why his old friend decided to cut off yet another conversation with that distracted look of his. Off-handedly, he wondered if anyone else would be able to tell if Barrell was distracted or focused with that beard covering his face like a mask. He never really gave it much thought, but it was like his own special technique. "You're spacing out again."

"Oh. You can tell?" That one made them both chuckle. It seemed as though he was more than aware of his 'lack of visible emotion'. "Sorry... I just don't feel like myself these days."

"Apparently, neither does your grand-daughter." Vener sighed for the billionth time today, now a little more concerned than he usually let himself become in these types of situations. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

The older Caskett couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at the question. Nothing wrong? Of course there was something wrong; his grandson was stuck up there in the middle of space, has been for the past three months, and it pained him to live with the thought that he and Roll 'still' couldn't bring him home. "I assure you Vener, I'll live."

o-----

A full minute had already passed, yet neither Roll nor Megaman moved a muscle. Each held their own surprised look, staring at each other; lost in the other's eyes. Either of them knew they would see each other again, yet they were both far from ready... it was an ironic relationship. Painfully similar to the enigmatic term, love. Both had conflicting emotions, their thoughts unable to gather enough data to hold a single, strand of courage. And, that being said, what happened next was inevitable.

Somewhere, drifting in that instant--that realization--the reflection in Roll's eyes flashed what her heart had been screaming, the burning tears unable to keep to itself any longer... her tight expression softening... "...Megaman...?"

Knowing his best friend all too well, Megaman blinked in surprise as he realized what exactly was happening in front of him... but having been sucked in a whirlpool of emotion himself, he had absolutely no clue on how to react. In fact now that he thought about it, he felt his own eyes beginning to tear up as well. "...Roll..."

The young girl had all but lost her composure now, helplessly giving way to a gentle sob--right before tackling the young boy she had missed so very much straight to the opposite edge of the bed. Fortunately, Trigger had succeeded in both catching her, 'and' keeping his make-shift clothes from exposing too much of him for comfort.

For the first time since she could remember, Roll held nothing back, crying as hard as she could into Trigger's fleshy collar-bone as the boy wrapped his arms around her for dear life; no longer able to bear the thought of having been away from her for so long. For what seemed like an eternity, Roll shivered, and sobbed, and cried... with Trigger doing whatever he could short of breaking down himself to comfort the distraught girl. "It's all right... shhh... i-it's okay... I'm here..."

_I'm here... I'm here... I'm here... _His innocent voice echoed feverishly in her mind, providing Roll with some much needed relief but at the same time forcing her to cry harder. No, this wasn't a dream... it certainly wasn't a hallucination either. He was really here; Terra's saviour, her hero, he was really there... "I... knew you'd... come

b-back, somehow... I knew..."

Hearing her voice again after such a long time, Megaman couldn't help but let a few tears drop, holding his most precious friend tight. "Roll I... I've missed you."

Consequently, what the oblivious Trigger had said just made the young girl cry harder.

o-----

"So, about that other heat signature you were talking about... you mean to say there were two beams?" Barrell took a large gulp from his mug of tea, the warm cleansing liquid doing well to help the sore muscles all of the recent stress had forced upon his battered body. Two beams? It certainly wasn't impossible--he was probably too distracted to notice the other one, since the beam that had hit the Sulphur Bottom was quite an eyeful already. "More importantly, what exactly did those things do?"

"To tell you the truth, the answers should've come to me by now." Vener replied, resting his chin on his hand as he used one the arms of the chair to keep it steady. It was very, very odd indeed. No matter how hard he tried to think of any hostile encounters he'd experienced in the past that could relate to their present state, there was still absolutely no motive for an attack from space, if it was even an attack at all. And to make matters a little more confusing, the beam had done nothing to the ship as far as he knew. "Perhaps the Sulphur Bottom was only in the way?"

"Hrm... it's plausible." Barrell nodded, looking over at the portable communicator that was almost glued on his left hand ever since the Sulphur Bottom was hit. If anyone knew about that 'Elysium' place aside from the woman that looked like Matilda and Megaman himself, it would be his grand-daughter. But seeing the state she was in, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. "I'd best call Roll then; she still doesn't know that the beams came all the way from that floating space station..."

He agreed, but said nothing as Barrell began to jot down a combination of numbers on the cube-like piece of technology. Just then, the Sulphur Bottom's Captain appeared on the screen of Von Bleucher's desk intercomm. "Sir, we've managed to track down the second heat signature."

"Excellent Captain. Where did it land?" Vener asked eagerly, leaning a little more towards the source of the voice. It wasn't for anything, but for the record his hearing really wasn't what it used to be.

"Well sir, we managed to chase the signal all the way to Manda Island; right before it disappeared on the long range sensors. Roughly two miles east of a small inhabited village."

"Manda? Hm... just when you thought you've seen everything." Vener replied, genuinely fascinated at how far (not to mention how fast) the other beam was able to go. It would take them a day or two at the very least to reach Manda Island from this location... more importantly, was that the beam's intended target? It certainly didn't seem so. There was absolutely no reason to shoot a blinding cylinder of light from space with the coordinates set on a small patch of land right before the mountains; it just wasn't rational... but then it hit him. "What if Elysium is testing a weapon?"

"Ah... that's possible, unfortunately." Barrell shook his head, the thoughtful wrinkles now evident on his forehead. "And I think that's why Roll acted the way she did... I do hope nothing's happened to Megaman..."

o-----

"So uh, what do we do Roll?"

The girl in question smiled the biggest, most beautiful smile Trigger had ever seen a girl make, and it certainly didn't go unnoticed. How he missed that smile. And oh, how she missed that voice. Roll's smile grew wider as it reminded her of all the times she had spotted for him; those innocent, clueless questions Megaman never seemed to run out of was one of the things she liked so much about him. "First, we've gotta do something about your lack of... decency."

It was obvious from the way she looked that Roll had just cried her eyes out, but the soft giggle that followed after gave Trigger a little relief. "Mhm, I'd appreciate it, yeah... and that camera..."

Roll looked towards the direction Megaman was boring holes at with his imaginary laser vision and found a small camera, slowly scanning the room from side to side. Surprisingly, she smiled a sly little smile as thoughts of owning the record flashed in her head--before her sanity pulled it away at the last second. Trigger on the other hand still couldn't stop blushing. "I'll take care of that... for now though, your armor. Was the bright beam that hit the Sulphur Bottom you by the way?"

"Well uhm, I guess, it must've been. It definitely felt like I was being hurled throught the atmosphere like a comet..." Trigger shrugged sheepishly, clearly not wanting to be beamed down from any place to anywhere, ever again. "As for the armor, I found my helmet, and I was pretty sure I was beamed down here wearing everything I had."

"Hmmm... all right, then your armor must just be scattered around this ship." Roll stood up from the bed, having thought up of the proper way to deal with the current situation. It took her a lot longer than usual though, since she couldn't stop thinking about him, and how happy she was that her best friend was finally home... words couldn't describe it; it simply couldn't. What did she know anyway? Roll was an emotional mess at the moment, as far as she could tell. "Okay... first, I'm going to try and find the missing pieces of your armor in the other rooms. And then, I'm going to get my hands on that camera's record. I'll let Gramps know too--but I've gotta at least find something decent for you to wear first."

o-----

"Oh, come on Four! Look'ere!"

"Ugh." The quiet little Servbot known as Four let out an even smaller grunt, hesitantly letting go of one of the wooden 'toys' he carved to pass the time to stare sleepily at his hyperactive brother who was none other than number Forty. He hadn't been doing much lately, just spending most of his days listening to number Thirty-nine's poems and Thirty-eight's sermons... Miss Tron never really let him do anything special. Besides, it was high time he did that anyway--the youngest Servbot had been pestering him for at least ten minutes now. "...Yes?"

"Play with me?" Forty asked in his usual innocent manner, which at first Tron thought was just adorable; now though, it was more of a nuisance. Apparently, the young Servbot's brothers thought the same. "Please?"

Four shook his yellow head in helpless defeat. Try as he might, he just didn't have as much resistance his other brothers did whenever Forty began his pouting. And just who could resist that face anyway? Oh, and the fact that the face Forty was showcasing looked exactly like his other brothers was also a bit of a sad afterthought as well. "Sure, what do you wanna play?"

"Hmmm. How about some dress-up!" The look on Four's robotic face seemed to scream rejection. "No? Thirty-five always played that with me... how about potato chas--"

"Anything but that!" The older Servbot said quickly. The last time Forty made him play that game, they had to steal a potato and show it to number Twenty... Four only realized now how scary his potato loving brother could be when you tried to run away with the aforementioned spud in hand. "How about some nice, quiet drawing?"

"I don't know how to draw..." Forty whined, jump-starting his fabled 'thinking mode', with the ultimate goal of coming up with a game they could both play. After a few minutes of nothing, Four picked up a small bread knife he left lying beside him and once again began working on his toys. Just when things were starting to get a little peaceful again, an imaginary light bulb appeared above number Forty's head. "OH I KNOW!"

Four had to stop himself from jumping in complete surprise. It was a good thing he dropped the knife when he did too--he could've scratched his shiny blue coating. "Ugh... okay, what game?"

"Eye spy!" Was the youngest Servbot's proud answer.

"Oh... well, sure. Let's play." Number Four shrugged, picking himself up and placing all of his attention on his brother. There were enough things to spy out here in the deck, and the wind was picking up, so it wasn't so bad... pretty refreshing even. "You start it, okay?"

"Okay!" Forty replied happily. But that happiness would soon be replaced by something he really couldn't quite place. "I spy with my little eye--... s-something..."

"Huh? What's wrong?" The Servbot was about to look at whatever his little brother was looking at, but before he could, Forty continued.

"Orange..."

"Oh, orange? I don't even need to look at that one--it's the sun, right?"

"Uhm... yes, you're... right, I think..."

If number Four had any eyebrows, now would've been the time to arch one of them. "You think? I don't get it. Is it the sun?"

"I don't know... is... is the sun supposed to be moving towards us?" Forty asked, genuinely confused.

"Huh? Now what would make you... think... uh." Four himself was stumped at the intimidating sight behind him. It 'did' look like the sun. Only it was travelling towards them and from what he could see, in a few seconds it would probably burn them both to a crisp... but he couldn't move. He was too paralyzed to do anything. It didn't look like Forty was going anywhere either.

The beam was surprisingly fast--hitting them both in almost no time at all, but since the older Servbot took the brunt of it, it only managed to topple Forty over. It didn't make a direct hit in the Bonne base, instead shooting horizontally over the deck towards the neighboring plains and onwards.

Before it managed to get away though, a frantic number Four yelled out an order that his younger brother heard loud and clear.

"_**Forty tell miss Troooooon!!!**_"

o-----

'Breathe...'

"W-what?" The trapped figure asked himself stupidly, much like a child questioned his own thoughts. Without a doubt, the voice had echoed from the recesses of his mind, a subconscious that was very faint, yet annoyingly familiar. It ordered him to breathe again, and the frightening blue color that had remained pasted in front of his sight for what seemed to be hours now had began to very slowly, form into something else, as his new found senses told him; much to his surprise, that his eyelids were opening somehow. His heart began to pound viciously as his excitement grew, the blurry light giving way to... the sky.

'Breathe...'

All his perversely strange life, he had questioned why his mind had accumulated all sorts of knowledge concerning what happened in an everyday basis. Why he knew about emotions, about thoughts, about what was real and what wasn't... the human anatomy, and that he was a carbon, a living being. He couldn't answer how he whole-heartedly believed the things that he thought to be very real, yet he had never recalled experiencing them. His mind had formed a prison for as long as he could remember, and he didn't understand how he had come to know everything he had never even seen, or felt before. His entire existence was a huge question mark. But now, when everything he was actually familiar with started to shatter, and a new world was beginning to take shape, he was speechless. His subconscious called on him again.

'Ray... breathe...'

"Breathe..." He repeated what his mind had been echoing for the past minute, and suddenly he could physically 'feel' his body convulse and his mouth gasp for air, also something he had never truly come in real contact with. His mind was completely blank as his senses continued to bombard him--his hearing came to, the numbness was beginning to disappear on his arms and legs... in an instant he could feel his entire body react to Terra's gravity pull. Once again, that information was unknowingly absorbed and he most certainly had no idea where these theories were coming from. It was during the emotional episode when his eyelids opened for the first time in his life.

"Megaman? Megaman, It's Four... wake up Megaman!"

o----------

A/N: xx... I have no idea how that took so long. Damn you College! Damn yooouuu!!!

Chapter three teaser has been held off, since what we have here is the almighty cliffhanger :). Oh, I really hope I can gather enough time to write this... . 


	3. Questions

_What? _The boy's mind echoed, his voice still trying to find its place, his confused expression giving off more than enough information for the Servbot to piece together. He hadn't the slightest idea why, but somehow, a wave of relief overcame him at the sight of the little robot's face, even though he was convinced that he had never physically seen anything or anyone for as far as he could remember... maybe, that was indeed the reason for it after all. Yet try as he might, he couldn't just dismiss the thought as his fragmented memories, traces of scenes and events that were clearly not his, saw this charred yellow man as something more. "I... who..."

"You're awake!" Four exclaimed, trying his best to help his family's nemesis turned friend into a sitting position as he eagerly waited for miss Tron and the others to rescue them, unaware of the fact that they were currently sitting in the middle of a small crater. But even though he was practically covered head to toe in the after-effects of the explosion, nothing was going to ruin his mood today. After all, Megaman was back! At least the Servbot thought he was Megaman… Four definitely did not remember his armor being weathered and grey. "It's okay, let everything sink in! Falling here all the way from Elysium must have really hurt your head!"

"Elysium," The boy repeated, his cracking voice giving way to a coughing fit as he was not used to speaking yet… or basically anything else for that matter. Even the feeling of his lungs expanding as he breathed in was foreign to him. But that word… Elysium. A flood of scenes entered his vulnerable mind at the slightest mention of it, more so than anything at the moment. An armored hand instinctively reached up to massage the pallid skin on his forehead as he tried his best to 'let everything sink in', as the little robot said.

"Wow, those three months must've been hard… even your eyes have changed color!" The Servbot muttered, obviously shocked at the difference between the person in front of him and the Megaman he knew from three months ago. His hair was much longer now, but it was not as messy as he had remembered… his armor was also cracked in some places, but then again having stayed in Elysium for so long was probably the reason. His skin also looked quite different; in fact, it was so pale it seemed like he'd come down with something… once again, he might have just caught it in Elysium. But those eyes… "Megaman, are you okay?"

The boy's head snapped towards Four so quickly that the latter almost flinched. _Megaman_, his mind repeated what the robot said… and no more than a split second later, his head was bombarded by a new set of memories, most of which were still broken, but not as unintelligible. The Bonnes… Juno… it took a few moments for him to regain his composure, and by then, his voice had become a little more tolerable. "Serv… bot?"

"Y-yeah! It's me, number Four," The Servbot stated excitedly, allowing himself a sigh of relief. For a while there, he was beginning to think that Trigger had amnesia; nothing to worry about now. If he remembered the Servbot brothers, then it was highly likely for him to recall everything else. "Phew, had me worried there… miss Tron's going to be so glad to see you okay."

"Miss Tron… huh…" The boy replied, finding it easier to use his strained vocal chords by the second. The name rang a bell, but his head was currently overflowing with so many new thoughts and memories that he hardly noticed. Inevitably his eyes began to glaze over as the confused boy struggled to maintain order and pick off the certain pieces of information he found particularly important… like his name, for one. "Ray..."

"What was that?"

"My… my name," The boy drew a sharp breath as he attempted to prop himself up on both arms, steadying himself for the next great test—standing. "is Ray."

_Hope..._

_Despair... _

_Charity... _

_Greed... _

_Power..._

_Love._

_This is ROCKMAN DASH, FUTURE'S PATH!_

_Chapter two; 'Questions' -- "The more things change, the more they stay the same." _

"Well, it sure feels nice to be decent again! Thanks Roll."

"You're welcome Megaman," Roll smiled mirthfully, looking her best friend over one more time. Oddly enough, the Sulphur Bottom's head chef had spotted Megaman's black suit inside one of his unused pots, which he was more than happy enough to hand over to the young girl without any need for an explanation. Fortunately, Roll also managed to procure the armor for his torso, as well as his buster cannon and the parts of his leg armor not very far from where he had first appeared. Since it wasn't complete, the black suit alone would do for now. "you haven't been eating very well up there, have you…?"

Trigger looked surprised for a second, before smiling sheepishly. The only source of sustenance he ever had in Elysium was what Sera gave him every two days. It wasn't exactly filling, but it kept him from going hungry… and he believed her when she said that it would be enough. For the life of him, he didn't know how Roll saw through his well nourished body, somehow being able to tell that he was absolutely starving for real food. But then again, she always knew better… "I can't ever hide anything from you, can I?"

Roll couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness at that. There he was, floating in Elysium, half starved… and she pretty much couldn't do anything about it. The young mechanic had to admit though, his blissful reaction to what she just said lifted her spirits more than she could have ever thought possible. "…I picked up a couple of recipes when you were gone just for this very occasion, so don't you worry Megaman. As soon as we get back to the Flutter, I'm going to fix you up so many sweets that you won't know where to start. I hope you like mango!"

"Hah, well you know I like anything you feed me." Trigger snickered, earning an embarrassed smile from the blonde girl. Usually it was Megaman who cooked the food, since most of the time Roll was too busy (that's what she told him anyway). But he always looked forward to the times she would go out of her way to bake him something… even more so after a hard day's dig. In fact he found himself wondering how he managed to keep himself in one piece long after the communicator had worn off, and the boy could no longer hear her gentle voice. "So! Shall we?"

Roll giggled, taking Megaman's hand. "We shall… to Gramps!"

Just as they were about to leave, Roll's portable phone began to ring. Glancing apologetically to Trigger, who didn't seem to mind very much at all, she fished for the aforementioned gadget in her pocket and brought the phone out for the both of them to see.

"Oh, it's Gramps."

"Do you want me to let him know now?" Roll asked her best friend, who shook his head after thinking it over for a brief moment. She supposed if she were in Megaman's shoes, she probably wouldn't have either. It'd be interesting to see the look on Gramps' face when he sees him in person first. Her grandfather had also called her several minutes ago, right in the middle of her search for the boy's lost armor to let her know that the beam originated from space. Opting to let her best friend decide, she told Gramps nothing about him then as well. Smiling back at Megaman—an expression that had been pretty much glued to her face for the past half-hour—Roll activated the speaker and answered the call. "Yes Gramps? Oh… I'm just resting my legs in one of the guest rooms. I'll be back in a bit… huh? Yes, I know that mister Von Bleucher's going to be the one giving us the supplies… oh, no Gramps, you have it all wrong…"

"What's going on?" Trigger whispered quietly, but she simply shook her head and grinned at him, a shade of pink covering her cheeks.

"Well uhm, it's sort of complicated… yes, the tape as well, you'll see when I get back. Okay, bye Gramps... please apologize to mister Von Bleucher for me too." Roll let out a small sigh as she put the phone back in her pocket, unable to hide the self conscious look on her face. "I suppose it 'is' pretty silly to be walking around the ship, just taking things and bringing them here. No wonder the ones that saw me let Gramps know."

"If that was the case, you should have told him I was here then…" Trigger said in a hushed tone, feeling somewhat guilty… after all, it was his armor she was hauling around. He also knew that it wasn't too big a deal, since all would be forgiven when the pair finally got around to seeing them. Of course, that still didn't stop him from feeling guilty; he always was. "they thought you were just taking random things from the Sulphur-Bottom huh?"

"Yes… but it's really nothing to worry about." Roll dismissed the topic, feeling a little odd nevertheless. Gramps had probably thought she was rummaging for supplies on her own… but that was ridiculous. Then again, she hadn't really been herself lately. He'd never admit it, but her grandfather was actually just as worried about Megaman as he was with her, and right now Gramps truly didn't know what to expect. "No point in keeping those two waiting right? Let's go Megaman."

"Yep."

"By the way, I found this really good recipe for mashed sweet potato I think you'll really like—wait… where's Data by the way?" Trigger suddenly stopped walking, and Roll looked back to see him making a pretty good impression of a dying gold fish. "…Why isn't he with you?"

"I uh… well…"

o-----

"Miss Trooon!" The youngest Servbot wailed, frantically tripping on almost any uneven ground his little feet ran over. He practically screamed all the way from the roof of the three story workshop—it couldn't even be called a building—up to Tron's room in the first floor, where she was waiting impatiently for Roll to call. As for the Germainschaft, Teisel had flown it to Calbania island with Bon Bonne and some of the Servbots in order to salvage as well as purchase some extra materials needed to refurnish their humble flying home, leaving Tron to continue work on the rocket she and Roll were working on to bring Megaman back from space. "Miss TROOOOOON—"

"WHAT!"

"Uh…" Number Forty slowly, cautiously opened his eyes to find that he was already in front of his aggravated creator, who looked like she had definitely seen better days. For a few seconds the little Servbot had forgotten what exactly he was supposed to say, having been scared stiff... but it was only for a moment, due to the urgency of the situation. "Number Four, he… potato, eye spy… he…"

"Forty, you're not making any sense! Pull yourself together or so help me—"

"IaskedFourtoplaywithmeandwewereplayingeyespyandhewashitbythesunandbeforeheflewawayhe toldmetocallyou!!!"

Tron twitched. "W-what? What happened to Four?"

"Hit by the sun and flew away!"

"The sun?!"

"I'm not sure it was orange!"

"What do you mean by 'he flew away'?!"

"He was hit and he flew away!"

"Hit by what exactly?!"

"The sun!"

"Stop screaming Forty!"

"I CAN'T!"

"WHY NOT?!"

"I'M SCARED!"

"…Okay, okay just calm down," Tron sighed, lifting the frightened Servbot so that she could have a better look at him. His eyes were moistening up and his mouth was quivering; more than enough to make the pirate girl feel guilty. Sure she would yell at them and in some rare occasions even kick them in the butt… but that was only if they screwed up really bad. Forty hadn't done anything wrong. Well, at least not yet. Nevertheless, the youngest Servbot wasn't the type to lie, and Tron was beginning to get worried about number Four. "so tell me. Which way did he fly off to?"

Forty quickly pointed to the direction where he had last seen his brother, which was northwest; he really wasn't too adept when it came to memorizing certain terms, but it was good enough of for Tron.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes…"

"Hm, all right then." The tired girl put Forty down, her eyes darting to and fro for any other Servbot who might be able to help. Unfortunately, Tron already knew that she'd given a strict set of chores for nearly all of them, the exceptions being number Four, Seven, Sixteen, Thirty-Eight, and of course number Forty, as well as the Servbots who accompanied Teisel to Calbania Island (for obvious reasons). She needed them with her because sometime before noon, the Casketts were supposed to arrive with the parts and supplies, and she could have used a couple of errand boys just in case… oh well. Convenience was once again thrown out the window. "Did Teisel take the spare Gustaff when he went to Calbania?"

The Servbot shook his head, having finally calmed himself enough to stop pouting. "No miss Tron, I saw number Eighteen cleaning it outside before I went to play with number Four."

"Good, I want you to head out with number Seven in the Gustaff, and show him where Four is, okay? I'm really busy right now so I can't tag along, but go ahead and dispatch one of the old Finkels—I'll monitor you two from there. Remember, I'm counting on you."

"…Roger!" Forty exclaimed, the Servbot's rarely seen determined and responsible side showing as he quickly marched out of his creator's sight, more than eager to perform the appointed task. "Oh Number SEVEEEN…!"

Tron waited for several seconds before allowing one final sigh to escape her lips, almost collapsing on her less than comfortable chair as she let all of the recent events race through the overworked recesses of her mind. It wasn't like these past few months have been a total waste… failure after failure aside, the rocket's potential was beginning to show incredible promise. In fact Tron prided herself at having been able to develop stabilizers that rivaled that of the Sulphur-Bottom, in something less than a quarter of its size. Sure, she had to send her Servbots to infiltrate the flying behemoth and steal Bleucher's blueprints in order to find out what exactly kept the pressure from bombing, but that was only a technicality really. Indeed, things were going well… and yet it was probably the reason why she felt so uneasy in the first place. With everything proceeding so smoothly this time around, what if it still didn't work? If worse ever came to worst… unless a couple of technological breakthroughs just happened to fall from the sky for the next couple of days, Megaman would probably be stuck in Elysium for a very, very long time. But all things considered, this wasn't the last chance they had to bring home… it sure felt like it though.

A year ago, Tron wouldn't have even dreamed of getting so worked up over some… some boy. And to make matters worse, that particular boy was the main reason she and her family were almost too poor to be pirates. Oh, that and he was also the reason why every living being in Terra was still alive right now. She can't love him, she can't hate him. Life just wasn't fair.

Flicking open a switch on her desk, one of several monitors that littered her makeshift room hummed to life—the lack of order being due to Teisel rushing the very complex process of moving technology from one place to another… he was just lucky that all of it still worked, otherwise, she would have had his fat head. At first the monitor showed static, which was understandable. It was connected via frequency to the Finkel's internal camera, and it simply meant that the machine hadn't been activated yet. Subconsciously, there was a nagging voice at the back of her head wondering if Four really had been hit by an orange blob. Only Number Forty knew for sure, because she never found the time or a reason to install any kind of radar during their stay in this relatively peaceful place. Also, the Germainschaft was usually docked outside the workshop and its tracking systems were just fine, so why bother? It was a pretty silly coincidence though, that one of the only times she could've used their flagship's radar was the same day Teisel flew off to Calbania.

_More like a stupid coincidence,_ Tron thought to herself, albeit a little less annoyed than she thought she would be. At the very least, this would be a good way to kill time, at least until the Casketts arrived. _Wonder what blondie's doing right now…_

o-----

"My boy! Is that really you?!" The old digger said incredulously for what seemed to be the hundredth time, having trapped his adopted grandson in a bone crushing bear hug, squeezing him like there was no tomorrow. "Megaman, my boy!"

"Y-yes Gramps, it's me…" Megaman gasped, caught between both the moment and Barrel's tight grip as he tried his best not to cry—whether it was out of joy, or pain. Truth be told, the boy missed his family so much that really didn't mind the fact that he couldn't breathe, happily letting his ecstatic grandfather crush him for as long as he liked.

Roll couldn't help but shed a few tears herself, as she hardly if ever saw Gramps in such an emotional state. He was usually so passive and calm in these situations, but this time, she couldn't blame him… this was a special moment for all of them. Even the Professor's old friend was moved at the sight of their little family reunion. "I think we should celebrate!"

"That's a splendid idea Roll." Von Bleucher said, his mind already going to work on what kind of celebration they should have. This was Megaman after all; the great savior of Terra. This was not going to be any ordinary party, that much was certain. In mere seconds he had already decided on the food, the layout, the music, as well as what kind of fireworks worked best in this altitude. Now, all he needed was time to send out the invitations and order the materials and caterer's needed to make it happen. "About a week from now, we will hold a grand gala to commemorate Megaman's safe return from space. How does that sound?"

The boy in question's eyes widened at that. A party? For him? This was the last thing he would have expected… or maybe it was just the last thing he wanted. Either way, he would be far too embarrassed to attend a celebration that was all for him--especially since mister Von Bleucher was the host. That would mean every well-known name in Terra would attend it. But thinking about it now, he supposed it wasn't that bad… he did want to see how the mayor of Kattelox was doing, as well as some of his old friends there, and little baby Megaman; he should be around one and a half by now. "Uhm, that sounds great and all… but, a party for me? That's a little too much don't you think?"

"Hah! Nonsense!" Von Bleucher laughed, having already planned to continue on with the celebration whether or not the boy agreed to it. He was being far too modest to know what was good for him, anyway. This was exactly what he needed, a little taste of what it was like to be a celebrity! And the fact that Megaman genuinely deserved this more than anybody didn't hurt either. If there was one thing Von Bleucher had learned about life it was that things were always better sooner rather than later, and this was no exception. "Terra's greatest hero deserves a hero's celebration, after all! But since this is your first time, I promise, nothing too overwhelming. Perhaps, just a five minute speech will do."

"S-speech…?" The boy muttered, his stomach beginning to make knots.

"Don't worry Megaman, I'll be right beside you all the way. A digger's no good without a spotter, right?" Roll smiled reassuringly, which was more than enough to calm her best friend down. Von Bleucher's idea wasn't exactly what the blonde girl had in mind, but she figured it was just as good, if not better. Megaman had always deserved something like this. She wanted him to feel that they weren't taking him for granted, even though she knew that wasn't what he was thinking at all. Either way, he had always deserved better than what he had now… "It'll turn out great."

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Vener knows best… but I would have to agree with him on this one Megaman," Barrel nodded, a little surprised at Von Bleucher's sudden eagerness to repay his grandson's efforts. But given the situation, it simply wasn't enough to grow suspicious of his old friend. Perhaps, he really did want to thank him in the grandest way possible. It wasn't like he was incapable of selflessness every now and then. Barrel had assumed after years of careful observation that it was probably just a little more difficult for him to do so. Probably. "I'm just sorry we hadn't done this sooner."

"Roll, Gramps… Mister Von Bleucher. Thank you." Trigger beamed a happy smile, his vision getting blurrier as he subconsciously lifted the back of his hand to wipe the would-be tears that were beginning to form in his eyes. He always knew they cared… he would just never ever get used to this kind of affection, because it triggers certain emotions that he had no idea how to keep at bay. "It'd be an honor…"

"Excellent, it's settled then." Vener let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, softening up to the young digger's reaction. Perhaps being too modest wasn't such a bad thing after all… that doesn't change anything, though. First thing next week, Megaman was going to have a crash course run on life in the A-list side. He could only hope that the boy was up to it. "Oh, that reminds me Barrel. Are the parts and supplies still needed?"

"Hmmm, what do you think Roll?" The old Professor looked thoughtful for a moment, before switching his gaze to his grand-daughter, who pretty much had the same look. He regretted the fact that he would have even suspected Roll of just taking things in the Sulphur Bottom without permission… who would've known that she was actually searching for his grandson's armor! He wouldn't have been able to guess that in a million years. He felt so bad about it that he didn't even bother to ask her why she'd taken one of the security tapes. "Do you think it's still important to finish the rocket?"

"Yes Gramps, I do… I really think we're onto something here. Who knows, the rocket may actually make it to space this time! And besides, Data's still up there so…"

"Oh, you mean Data isn't with you Megaman?" The person in question shook his head sheepishly, and Barrel smiled knowingly. "Well, I don't think we need worry about him… doesn't he just pop in out of nowhere sometimes?"

"Now that you mention it Gramps… yeah, he does do that! In fact I didn't see him in Elysium the first week or so. I thought he was in Terra."

"Wait a minute… you're right!" Roll's jaw dropped as she distinctly recalled Data being with them when they first started building the rocket. The thought just probably slipped her mind as the months began to pile up… she had also gotten used to the little monkey disappearing from time to time. Suddenly, Roll felt a heavy weight being lifted from her chest as she realized that they might not need to pick Data up from space after all. "Maybe he does have a means of getting back here by himself. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Indeed; I'll have the supplies, as well as the remaining pieces of Megaman's armor loaded up to the Flutter right away." Von Bleucher nodded, more than a little curious as to the latest performance of Roll and the Bonne girl's prototype rocket. Being the restless explorer he was, a successful trip to space opened an infinite amount of possibilities that, simply put, he wouldn't miss the world for. "And if the rocket does indeed prove to be successful, then you as well as those pirates will have ushered a new era… and we will have yet another reason to celebrate next week. Of course you'll have to prepare a speech yourself, hah!"

"A… speech? Me?" Roll muttered, suddenly feeling very much like a hypocrite. She was all for it when Megaman had to do one, but now… "I don't know…"

"Come on Roll, since when have we ever let each other down? A spotter's no good without a digger, right?" Trigger smiled a reassuring smile himself, and Roll couldn't help but let out a giggle as the tables turned. There was always a digger, and there was always a spotter. Never one or the other, but both acting together in perfect harmony. "I guess we'll always be partners in everything!"

And Roll, being a very smart and knowledgeable girl, began glowing beet red, resulting in Trigger staring quizzically at her, dumb-founded and wondering what exactly it was that made her react that way. He was dense as always… nevertheless, it didn't make her feel any less happy that he said that—or any less embarrassed. It was actually very cute that he… oh boy, now really wasn't the time for this. "Megaman…"

"Well, I suppose we'll be off, Vener. We have a lot of catching up to do, as you can tell." Barrel chuckled, finally being able to breathe easy after so many weeks of hopeless days and restless nights… In fact he didn't know whether he should spend time with Megaman, or take a week long nap first. The former was the obvious choice, sure… but a long nap sure seemed tempting for an old, weathered man like him. Back in his younger years, he'd stay awake for three whole days at a time, whether it was doing research on discovering new ruins or traversing through them, he never prioritized sleep. Now, he was forced to take them whenever and wherever he could get them, otherwise, he'd doze off every hour of every day… "All right you two, let's go home."

"Okay Gramps… thank you mister Von Bleucher, for everything." Trigger turned to face Vener, bowing politely, and the aging man nodded in reply, a soft smile on his face. After Roll had said her goodbyes as well, the three headed out of his office via the newly installed metal door, hissing closed as they left.

"Well, that felt nice." Vener muttered to himself, amused at the fact that he hadn't felt anything even remotely close to this in a long, long time. Going against his usually very frank nature, he decided against telling them about the third beam right now, opting to let the Casketts enjoy at least a day or two without having to worry about anything. That should be enough time for the Sulphur Bottom to head towards its coordinates. If it functioned similar to the beam that sent Megaman here, then it was possible that more 'visitors' from Elysium or space and what not had come to Terra.

But that wasn't anything new, he supposed… unbelievably enough, much weirder things have happened.

"Captain, set a course for the last heat signature's precise location... and do you think an eight layer cake mixed with rum is something teenagers would like?"

o-----

"So what you're trying to tell me… is you aren't Megaman?" The Servbot murmured, now feeling a little bit beside himself. Miss Tron had done an excellent job managing the data compression and uploads into their chips, allowing the Servbots' unpredictable minds to almost mimic the mental performance of a young human being, but this was just too much… "You're a different person…?"

"Yes… m-maybe. I don't know," The boy known as Ray shook his head, realizing now that the remaining fragments in his head had pretty much stopped moving, no matter how hard he tried to remember. He could recall some events that happened during Megaman's stay in Terra… if it even was the guy's memories. He wasn't sure if he even knew the blue armored boy. The only things right now that he was convinced were true was his name, and that Ray's instincts were practically screaming at him that he and the boy whom he shared memories with were two completely different people. But even so… he didn't know if he could believe himself when it came to that. "I'm sorry, your guess is as good as mine…"

The Servbot pouted, still terribly confused, as the two slowly headed towards the direction of his pirate family's temporary base of operations. Just as Number Four was about to ask another one of his questions, Ray's knees buckled under the weight as he exhaustedly began to fall face first to the grass… fortunately, his arms shot forward and stopped him cold, preventing any serious injury. Before he was even able to catch his breath the little Servbot was already kneeling beside him, a look of worry on his face. "Are you okay?"

"I…" Ray gasped, finding himself staring at the oddly familiar weapon on the ground, which he had obviously dropped when his arms stopped him from falling all the way through. It was beside the boy when Number Four woke him, and the Servbot had mentioned during their conversation that it looked like Megaman's gun… that, and he had no idea how it worked. Sighing softly, Ray made himself more comfortable as he seated himself on the grass, unable to walk anymore. "Sorry… can we rest here, for a while? It's just I… I don't think I've ever used my legs before."

"Oh, okay." Number Four agreed, taking his makeshift seat next to the tired boy. After around ten seconds or so, the Servbot began to hum instinctively, partly because he couldn't whistle at all. As the thoughtful silence accumulated into two full minutes, Four snuck a glance toward Ray, who looked to be just staring at the horizon. Thankfully, it was still at least three hours before lunchtime, so the sun was still not as hot or bright. He could feel a calm breeze gently letting itself known, unable to help but smile as the grass danced happily on the ground. And for the billionth time, Number Four inwardly thanked his creator for putting the time and effort into giving him the ability to sense such things.

At least another minute would pass before either of them said anything.

"Beautiful."

"What was that?" The Servbot asked, glancing back towards the armored boy who was looking at the sky, a forlorn expression on his face. Number Four simply put two and two together, and pretty soon he found himself staring at the endless blue as well. "Oh… you've never seen the sky, have you?"

"No. I have some memories of it but I… everything is beautiful." Ray couldn't find the words to explain, his undivided attention focused on the sky and the clouds, the mountains and trees, his mind far too busy taking in the sight to do anything. The memories he had didn't belong to him… which explained why it felt so unbelievable, to look at the world with his own eyes. He was just too disoriented to have noticed it earlier… in fact, he couldn't seem to remember much of what had happened before all of this. It was strange, because he felt that he knew so much more back then, even though he practically didn't exist… oh well. As far as he was concerned none of it mattered at the moment… so long as he could wake up and see this every morning, then the other details weren't important at all. A wistful smile graced his features as he curled up and hugged his knees, fully content to stay here as long as he possibly could. "Everything."

Number Four simply nodded in agreement, perhaps understanding the boy's situation a little too well… he and his brothers were like that during the first week of their lives too. They'd spend most of their time gawking at absolutely anything that looked interesting—it used to drive miss Tron mad. But from what he had learned from Ray, it was almost like he knew about these things before he even came here… like he was barred from seeing any of it. At least in their case they had no idea what any of it actually was, so probably half the reason miss Tron got so frustrated was all the questions she had to repeat at least forty times each. Staring quietly at Ray, Four couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He had probably waited a very long time to see the sky... "And now, you get to see all of this everyday!"

Ray blinked, a surprised look on his face, before smiling happily at the little Servbot, feeling much better about things. "I hope so... but if I'm not Megaman, doesn't that mean I can't go back with you…?"

"Oh… no, of course not! It's perfectly okay… I think." Number Four's expression instantly changed from relaxed to helpless, wondering how he was going to explain to miss Tron that Ray wasn't Megaman. But he couldn't just abandon him… Ray was his friend! She'd understand… but then again, they were struggling with money lately, so he might have to leave anyway, even if she does agree to let him stay. Not to mention, Master Teisel was very protective of miss Tron and master Bon when it came to strangers… "But you have some of Megaman's memories… you even have his armor! That has to count for something right?"

"No, that's okay. I wouldn't want to impose…" The boy shook his head, his vocabulary becoming more expansive by the minute. Necessities in the world of Terra, like food and water, as well as showers and waste disposal were slowly but surely embedding itself into his mind and becoming part of his nature as a whole, almost like he'd been living his life normally the entire time—likely the result of having the memories of someone who did. But at the same time, he felt that his real memories were buried somewhere… and that it was helping him, one way or the other. "Besides, if I'm here, then that must mean he's here too right?"

"B-but you can barely stand!" Number Four whined, his eyes beginning to fog. He may have been more mature than most of the other Servbots, but he was a Servbot nonetheless. It simply meant he didn't have as many tantrums as most of his other brothers. "And you have nowhere else to go… at least stay with us until you get better."

"I guess you have a point there…" Ray attempted in vain to comb his tangled hair by running his armored fingers through it, unsure of how to react to Number Four's kindness. As he was about to thank him once again for his hospitality, his ear caught the sound of something strange, a whipping noise, getting louder and louder by the second. As his eyes instinctively darted to follow the sound, he spotted a little orange machine making its way towards them. "What's that?"

"Hmmm…" Number Four blocked the glare of the sun with his robotic little hand and squinted his eyes in an effort to see what exactly it was Ray spotted. Eventually he did, and his face lit up instantly. "It's the Finkel! Miss Tron's flying camera! Oh, the Gustaff's right behind it too!"

"Finkel? Gustaff …?" Nope, it didn't ring a bell at all. Dismissing the thought as irrelevant, he noticed the Servbot begin to wave frantically, and soon enough, the so-called Finkel was just a few feet away.

It flew erratically for a few more seconds before winding up beside the two, hovering a few inches up and down as its green eyes flickered brightly for a split second. They then heard an audible click and some static from the flying camera as Tron's voice boomed from the speakers. "Number Four, there you are! You're filthy--what happened?"

"It's a long story miss Tron…"

"Uhm I uh… hello."

"Who's that with you—huh?" The Finkel was dead silent for the next few seconds as a very loud crashing noise and a yelp of pain could be heard from the flying machine. "Ow! Jeez!—Oh my gosh! Megaman?! You look terrible! Did you catch a cold?! What did those two do to you up there?!"

"W-well…" Ray's eyes widened.

"It's a really long story miss Tron…"

o----------

A/N: Some inconsistencies you might have noticed during the story, I'll try to explain here…

#1, Gatz is alive?! – Yuna was bluffing! xD

#2, Roll named Megaman Megaman, not Barrel! – Barrel's a little senile, so I suppose his thoughts can be a little… different (I'm just making up for the fact that I completely forgot, if you still haven't noticed…).

#3, Data's supposed ta be in Terra with them! Whyz he in Elysium, rawr! – The little monkey's hiding a lot of secrets… and yeah, I already explained it in the story, so if you're still asking me this then you got bored and stopped reading early into chapter 3 . .

What's going to happen next? I suppose only I care, mwahahaha! 'Til next time!


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